Messiah In The Old Testament Episode 39
Job’s Character Rewarded
Welcome to Messiah in the Old Testament. Today we are presenting the third episode in our three part series looking at Messianic Prophecies that are found in the book of Job. Now, our first episode which was titled Job's Character Revealed looked at Messianic Prophecies related to attributes of Job's character. Now, the reason the attributes of Job's character translated into Messianic Prophecies is because Job is acting as a type of Messiah much like his ancestors Enoch and Noah were types before him. So, now Job is a type. So, if we find attributes of Job's character then those can be used to point us to attributes in Messiah’s character.
Now, in our second episode we did present all of these attributes summed up in a table. And I’ll put that up for you real quick. And we’re going to go through each of those attributes as a matter of review.
1) Blameless Job was blameless and this points us to Messiah whose character is going to be so complete, so finished, so sound, so whole that anything thrown at him he'll be able to withstand it. Any accusation, any blame, any temptation, everything that Satan tries to throw at Messiah will just be deflected. And he will remain blameless.
2) Upright Job was upright. This points us to Messiah whose character is going to be like that path we described. It's going to be straight. It’s going to be smooth. It’s going to be correct. Job's character is not going to be twisted or wicked or perverse in any manner. He is going to be straight, smooth and correct.
3) Feared God Job feared God. This points us to Messiah who also is going to fear God. he's going to be in fear or reverence, awe of Elohim is going to be intimately associated with Elohim and they will have this relationship where Messiah will fear God.
4) Shunned Evil Job shunned evil. This points us to Messiah who is also going to turn away from, turn aside, shun evil. He will stay away from evil. He will preach to evil men. He will approach evil men, but he will not embrace that evil. He will shun it.
5) Greatest Job was the greatest amongst all the peoples of the East. This points us to Messiah who is going to be the greatest amongst all the peoples of his region. He’s going to be the greatest, in fact. in all the world. He is going to have such fame and influence that he will spread his message throughout the world.
6) Regular Custom Job’s regular custom was to present burnt offerings before Elohim, just in case his children had sinned in their hearts and
cursed God in their hearts. And it was his regular custom. And this point us to Messiah whose regular custom will also be serving and meeting the needs of his children or his followers. Job was a servant for his children. Messiah is going to be a servant for his children, for us.
7) Mediator Job was a mediator between God and men. This points us Messiah who also is going to be the mediator between God and men. In our second episode, which was entitled Job's Character Tested, we were looking at prophecies related to Job's testing and his response to that testing.
We came up with eight prophecies in this episode. And I’ll put the list up for you right now. Now, those first two, Hedge of Protection and Blessed the Work of His Hands, those are accusations that Satan made against Elohim. And in those accusations we find Messianic Prophecy. Satan was accusing Elohim of wrapping Job so tightly in his hedge to protection that he was actually becoming a slave and he had to do whatever Elohim said. And this blessing the work of his hands, Job was so blessed that he had no reason to think about anything else. So, these accusations were that if you take away that hedge of protection, give Job some freedom and you take away all this blessing, he's going to turn on you he's going to curse you to your face. That is what Satan accused Elohim [of]. But, he didn't realize that Job's character was so strong in those four things. Job feared God. Job shunned evil. Job was blameless. And all those characteristics and those attributes that Job had were the reason that Job was so obedient to God, the reason Job was so righteous. It was his character. It wasn't anything that Elohim did. So, this revealed to us two prophecies.
1) Hedge of Protection Just like Job had a hedge of protection placed around him and then it was taken away at his time of testing. This points us to Messiah who also is going to have a hedge of protection around him and then it will be taken away when his time comes.
2) Bless the Work of His Hands Job's hands were blessed. Everything he touched prospered. This points us to Messiah who is going to have that same blessing on him. Everything he touches is going to prosper until it is taken away just like Job's blessing was taken away.
3) Job Faced Trials This is pretty obvious. Job was being severely tried by Satan. This points us to Messiah who also is going to be severely tried by Satan. The next two are related to the first trial.
4) Job Faced First Trial But Did Not Blame God or Sin The trial where Job had all of his wealth stripped away, his servants removed, his children were killed and he lost all 10 children. He faced extreme loss. But in this trial, Satan was saying he’s going to to turn on you is he's going to curse you God. Instead, Job did not blame God for anything. And because he did not blame God, he did not sin. And then the next prophecy:
5) Job Responded to Extreme Loss by Worshipping Job responded to this extreme loss not by cursing, not by blaming, not by anger, instead he fell on his face and he worshiped God. That's his default when put under pressure. What does he do? He doesn't curse, he worships, a lesson for us today. The next two are related to Job’s second trial. The trial where he was struck with sores from the top of his head to bottom of his feet. And this caused him extreme pain and isolation.
6) Job Faced His Second Trial But He Did Not Curse God or Sin He faced this second trial but he did not curse God as Satan was prophesying. Instead he did not curse God. He did not sin.
7) Job’s Responded to Pain and Isolation With Repentance and Humility His response to pain and isolation was repentance and humbling, humility. This was Job's moniker. This was his default. Instead of cursing God, he repented and humbled himself before God. And then finally
8) Job Was a Man of Integrity Twice it said, Elohim was bragging on his integrity and his wife was saying are you still hanging on your integrity just curse God and die. Job's integrity was very important. And Job as a man of integrity points us to Messiah who also is going to be a man of integrity. Now, our third episode, which we’re presenting today is entitled Job’s Character Rewarded. So, this is what happens after Job successfully faces his trials, after Job’s response to his trials with worshiping, with humbling himself, with repenting. Then everything that happened after that is included in this episode.
So, at the end of our last episode we had Job struck by Satan with sores. And the Hebrew it says the sores went from his hands and from his feet up to the crown of his head. So, he is covered with sores literally head to foot.
The Hebrew phrase that is translated as painful sores is the phrase or NyIjVv (shachin ra’). And NyIjVv (shachin) means a sore, a boil, an open, oozing wound. And or (ra’), of course, we know from our previous episode comes from oor (ra‘a‘). It means badness or evil. So these were evil sores. These were bad sores. These were painful sores. These were festering sores covered with pus. So, that is what Job was facing when Satan inflicted him. Job's response was to scrape all the pus off with a potshard.
And then he sat in the pile of ashes and he covered himself in ash. And we raised the question in a previous episode, Was this something that was soothing? Was this something that promoted healing?
And I did some research and it turns out that if you use a weak alkali on wounds during wound healing that is beneficial and promotes healing. In
fact, there are people who are working on inventing a special healing gel that is alkaline instead of being acidic. You put on your wound and it promotes wound healing. And the other thing is the alkaline in the ash probably would neutralize any acids that were built up in the wounds. Whenever you have active infection the wounds are typically a very acidic environment. And it’s potential that if you neutralize the acid it might reduce some pain. So, there is some medical basis for what Job did. Now, his wife had had enough. She said, “Are you holding onto your integrity?”, basically mocking him and saying, “Just let go of your integrity, curse God and die.” She was fed up with this whole thing. She also had lost everything and lost all her children. She was probably facing those same temptations and emotions to blame God, to curse God. She didn't seem to be faring as well as Job. Her character was probably not as good as Job's character. Her idea was to just go ahead and die. He said, “You are speaking like a foolish woman.” And in some ways he kind of pushed her aside. He said, “I’m going to do what's right, regardless of what you're saying.” So, Job was sitting in the pit. So, let’s imagine what's going on here. He is in a pit of ashes. They’re probably not inside the house. They’re probably outside, probably out back of the house where the either the outdoor kitchen was or maybe there was like a camp fire pit like we have. And maybe there was a pavilion over the top of it where it kept out the sun. But, Job was probably not sitting in comfort or lying in comfort.
He was sitting outside in this pit of ashes. Now, while he is sitting there, he has three friends. They were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. They agreed that they would go and
they would sympathize and provide comfort to Job. So, they all gather up their things. They head to Job's house.
And when they arrived they could hardly recognize him. And, in fact, the Word says that they saw him from a distance. They began to weep out loud and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. So, they were doing the same thing Job did. They work acting in humility and repentance. So, they show up. They sit down. Here is Job in his pit. He's not saying a word. He might be praying quietly to himself. He may be crying or moaning in pain. But, his friends show up and they don't say a word to him. In fact, they sit there for seven straight days without saying a word to Job. Now, that is a very good friend that is willing to come and sit there silently for seven days, commiserating and comforting you in your time of trial. I'm sure there were servants that were bringing in some food and drink. And I'm sure they had to have potty breaks. Life went on, obviously. But, they did not engage Job.
And when they finally did engage Job, Job spoke first. And Job, the first thing he did was curse. But not God. He didn’t curse his wife. He cursed the day he was born. And then we have this back and forth, several discourses. And there's one discourse where he's responding to his friend
Zophar. And this response has Messianic Implications. I’m going to read it for you.
It is found in Job 14:7-17:
At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. But man (on the other hand) dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
So, in Job's mind, death was a finality. You died and you were separated and you did not come back. It was a one-way street. You did not come back from death. And then, this next part, the imagery, I think is just absolutely wonderful.
As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
So, in this imagery, the river is symbolic of life. The water in the river is symbolic of life. There's fish, there's snails and all kinds of life in the
water. And then on the edge of the water, all the animals come to drink. There’s green, There’s trees, there’s shrubs there’s grass. And when the water disappears, then that riverbed becomes dry and parched. Same thing with the sea. If you take the water out of the seabed then all the aquatic life disappears. So, the water is life. The absence of water, the parched dry land is symbolic of death. Now, even in this dramatic picture that he's painting for his friend Zophar, he recognizes that death, even though it is a one-way street, even though you're put in your grave and you don't rise up again the land of the living, he does recognize that there is hope beyond the grave. Going on:
“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! If a man dies, will he live again?
According to what he had said previously, the answer is probably not.
All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
So, I love that word ‘renewal.’ Job is looking forward to renewal, new life, new things in the future.
You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
So, Job’s in the grave. He's dead. And he knows that it's a final thing. He knows that that there is nothing in the grave for him. But, he is waiting for his day of renewal to come. He is waiting for his creator, who is longing to be reunited with his creation, to call out. And then Job will respond and say, “Here am I. Here am I. Come get me!” And then Elohim will come and renew his life. And he will take his sins, seal them up in a bag and they will not be counted against him forever and ever and ever.
The only way that this can be true, Job's prophetic statement, is for Messiah to come and to renew, to make new life from dead life and to take the sins away, seal them up so they will never be remembered. So, here's the Messianic Prophecy:
We all await renewal when Elohim will call to us in the grave. We will rise as a new creation. Our sins will be sealed away and covered. This is what Messiah will do when he comes. He will call to us while we are dead in our sins and then he will bring us new life, eliminating our sins for all eternity.
I mean, this one single prophecy, like many of the others, it says it all. That's Messiah’s mission. That’s Messiah's purpose. That is why Messiah is coming to do those things. Now, I think would be interesting to look at what the attitudes, and I have kind of alluded to this a little bit when Job was talking about death, what were the attitudes? What were the prevailing attitudes amongst all the cultures around him? And what would the people living around Job think about death.
Now, there are several major cultures that we can look at. Number one, there was the Egyptian culture. And then we had the Canaanite or
Ugaritic culture up along the seacoast, in Judea all the way up. And then the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures up to the north. Then, of course, the Semitic culture. So, let's see what these cultures believed. The Egyptians, we’ll start there.
The Egyptians had the best documentation because they built those tombs and build those pyramids. And this was in the middle of the desert and everything was saved and preserved. So, we have all this record available to us. And it's the same basic references we keep using when we talk about the creation story, when we talk about the flood story. These are taken from the funerary texts, from the temple inscriptions and from the tomb inscriptions. And there is such detail.
In fact, the pictures that are found on the walls of tombs and on the walls of temples and in books that were specifically written for the deceased to assist them in the afterlife, the so-called book of the dead. These are just full of images and descriptions for us to know exactly what the Egyptians believed. Now, the problem with the Egyptian story, just like we talked about the creation story. It depended on where you were, what time, which kingdom the middle kingdom or the later kingdom. Because, this was something that was constantly in flux and constantly was morphing. So, what was honored in one millennia is not the same as
another millennia. It is a constantly changing thing. Let's start out by looking at the basic Egyptian belief.
The Egyptians believed that you have a body and within that body was your doppelgänger, your other body, your spiritual body. And then also your spirit being. And then, of course, they had other parts, your intellect and other things. They believed that when you died, your body was separated from all this other stuff. And your body would lay there dead. And your ka, which is your doppelgänger, your virtual body then left your mortal body. And your ba, your spirit also left. And what happened in the afterlife was affecting those two things. Now, the reason mummification was so important is that the Egyptians believed that you had to have a physical body that these ka and ba would recognize and they could come back and be reunited in the afterlife.
They went through this huge ritual. And we could spend many episodes just talking about the Egyptian practice of mummification and the rites and the rituals. There were 75 rituals that were performed over a 70 day period. It’s a very complex process, fascinating. And for someone like me who loves Egyptology, I find it very interesting. You would probably would find it a bit boring, talking about taking the brain out through the nostrils by pulling it out a little piece at a time, that kind of stuff. Now,
they believed that your journey started in the tomb. And you then began your journey through the netherworld, trying to find your way to the ultimate end.
In the tomb there were all the tools you needed to navigate the afterlife. If you were rich and you were a Pharaoh or you were some high official, they would actually put a model of boat or even a full-size boat in your tomb with you. And that boat would help you navigate through the dangers we’re going to talk about. You would have statues and amulets and all kinds of things that in the mummification process they even wove amulets in with the wrappings.
And it was usually a scarab amulet over your heart, which will talk about in just a bit. So, all of this was to help you. There were spells and there were incantations and there were secret names you had to know, passwords. All these things were there with you. And the main thing that you needed was that the guidebook, the book of the dead. And that's where we get the majority of our information. In fact, The Papyrus of Ani is the best preserved and the most illuminated and has pictures. In fact, as I present this I'm going to be showing you pictures of each of these things. So, for example, when I just talked about the mummification, that was the picture of the ceremony called the Opening
of the Mouth. Which is the symbolic opening of the mouth of the mummy so that the spirit, the ba and the ka, could come back into the mummy.
So, first thing, you went down this long hall. And on the walls were either images or statues of the gods as you walk down the hall. Then you entered this area of wilderness, a no-man zone.
And in this wilderness, there were marshes and ponds and lakes. And there was fire and other dangers. And you had to navigate through all these dangers. There were poisonous snakes and scorpions and crocodiles. And you had to know all the secrets to get through. And that's where this book of the dead and all these other accoutrements that you had in your in your tomb were going to help you. So, once you navigated through you would have to go through a series of gates. Those gates then, allowed you to move to the next to the next to the next. There were many gates.
In fact, in the book of the dead it talks about those gates. In fact, I’ve got just one single quote for you. This is found in chapter 144 of the book of the dead:
The third gate. He who eats his own filth, is the name of the occupant. The watchful, is the name of the warden thereof, the curser is the name of the herald. (Book of the Dead Chapter 144)
So, you had to know these names to navigate through the gates. And you make it through the series of gates. And finally, finally you get to the house of Osiris.
And that is where Anubis meets you and he escorts you into the House of Osiris. The House of Osiris has many rooms. And you have to negotiate your way through those rooms like the gates. In fact there were 21 gates you had to make your way through or stations. And many believe that at each station you put on a new set of clothes and you had to go through a series of incantations to get from the one to the next. Finally, you were escorted by Anubis into the Hall of Truth. And in the hall you’ve got Osiris.
It is also called the Circle of Osiris because you have 42 gods sitting around the center part which is where Anubis takes you. And you’re standing there in front of all these gods. And the first order of business, you have to make your 42 negative confessions. These are things that you swear that you never did or never said against the gods. And once you made your 42 confessions, then you had to allow Anubis to take your heart.
And then they would put it on a giant golden scale which is called the Scale of Truth or the Scale of Maat, which is the female goddess of truth. And then Maat would present an ostrich feather, a white feather. And that would be placed on one side of the scale. Anubis would take your heart and put your heart on the other side of the scale.
And then we would see where the balance tips. Now, if your heart is heavy and burdened with sin, then it would tip. And if your heart tipped
the balance, then this crazy animal which they called the gobbler [Amut], which had the head of a crocodile, the body of a leopard and the tail end of a rhinoceros, this creature would come and just gobble you up. And then you were gone forever. There was no chance for you to go any further. And then you would be eliminated for all eternity.
But, if your scarab amulet, which the purpose of the amulet was to shield and hide from the gods all of your all of your sins, your greed, your avarice and it would help tip the balance towards the feather, away from your heart. So, if the feather was heavier and your heart was lifted by all the good deeds you did and all the amulets and charms and everything that you had, then you would be allowed to leave the house of Osiris. And you be escorted by Anubis to the ferryman.
The ferryman, his name was Haraf-hef. Now, he was a very unpleasant fellow. He would curse and be very rude and very mean. And you had to sweet talk him into getting on to the Boat of Ra. So, if you are able to negotiate with the ferryman. And again this is where all those amulets and incantations helped you. And you would get on the Boat of Ra. The Boat of Ra would then take you across the Lake of Flowers or the Lake of Lilys. The Lily Lake they called it,
And then you would arrive on the far side which were called the Elysium Fields or the Field of Reeds. Where you would then live out eternity. And you would have a lifestyle much the same as your lifestyle on earth. If you were a potter, then you would resume making pots. If you were a fisherman, you would go fishing. If you were a laborer in the field, you would continue farming. So then, they would live their life in peace and safety for all eternity. Now, I'm going to summarize. I did a lot of detail in that one just because it's so colorful and fascinating. We’ve got all those pictures. But, the next ones I'm just going to summarize. We have several documents at our disposal to see what the other cultures believed. Such documents as:
Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld
Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld
The Epic of Gilgamesh (which we’ve talked about before)
The Descent of Ishtar Into the Underworld
The Baal Cycle (which we’ve also talked about before)
These stories give us glimpses of what the attitudes are in the afterlife. And so, I’ve summarized it and here they are. This is a summation of how the ancient peoples in the Middle East and near East pictured the grave and afterlife:
1) All dead people went to one place. Heaven is for God (the gods). The grave is for man. The concept of compartmentalization or a dualistic idea that heaven, called Abraham’s bosom in Jewish belief, is for the righteous and hell is for the unrighteous developed later.
This is a concept that developed later after Job's lifetime. So, there is no concept that when I died, I went to heaven. Or when I died, I went to hell. Everybody went to the grave. There was just one place to go.
2) There is a vast metaphysical separation between the living and the dead but minimal physical separation.
You can’t communicate. You can't know smell what's going on up there. None of your physical senses worked. There is a huge metaphysical separation, but there’s only minimal distance, minimal physical separation. So, it’s the Earth’s surface where the living people were and however deep your grave was where you were. So, there was not that much physical difference but the metaphysical [distance] was huge.
3) There is no return from the grave. Death is a one way trip to a “land of no return”. In most stories there are gates guarded by deities in the netherworld preventing any occupants from leaving.
And we saw that in the Egyptian story. And every story has this basic concept of gates that let you in but don’t let you out.
4) Man is stripped of all his possessions, status, children and physical body. Everything is eliminated as you enter the afterlife. Some stories go into detail how the dead stop at stations
And it’s quite fascinating, there are stations that you stop at. Remember with the stations there in the wilderness.
and give up their worldly possessions gradually a little bit of time. In fact, one story tells of a pile of crowns at the entrance of death left by the kings of the earth.
So, you are stripped. And by the time you get to the end, you have nothing. So, just your naked body and that's it. And that's even removed and all you have left is your spirit being.
5) The conditions in the afterlife parallel the conditions found in a gravesite. Specifically there is darkness, gloom, dirt, filth, worms crawling and decay.
So, it’s just like what was going on in the grave. That is how the afterlife is described.
6) Man is a shadow or dim reflection in death compared to his physical existence on earth.
So, when Job was reflecting to his friends about death, when he was describing what was going on, put the backdrop of all of these beliefs of the peoples around them or what the prevailing ideas probably were about death.
He was comparing his situation sitting in his ash pit, very similar to what happens when you die. You’re stripped of your possessions, stripped of your position (your crown), stripped of your children, stripped of your physical body, stripped of everything. And you’re isolated and alone. And this is how probably Job felt when he was sitting in that ash pit. Covered in filth, covered in dirt just like he was he was in a grave. But all of this is just a prelude to what's going to happen. So, even if you believe all the stuff about the afterlife, that you’re sent to the grave and there are worms and decay and all this stuff.
One thing that Job had, that nobody else around him had, was hope. Job had hope that his creator, Elohim with whom he had a very intimate relationship, remember he feared God. Job knew that his creator would call to him and then Job in response would call out and he would be reunited. And there would be this reunion. And then there will be this renewal. And then there would be the removal of his sins. And then he could join and be reunited with Messiah. Now, there's another conversation that goes back and forth. And there's one discourse between Eliphaz and Job. And Job is answering his friend Eliphaz. And he's describing, kind of metaphorically, what he went through when he faced these trials and tribulations from Satan. So, this is his summary. And it has immense Messianic Implications.
This is in Job 16:10-14:
Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me. God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; his archers surround me. Without pity,
he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.
So Job, acting as a type of Messiah, he experienced all these things. I'm not sure that men were stabbing him with spears, but he was describing the experience he went through. But, each of these things point us toward Messiah who will actually go through these things. He is describing Messiah as a suffering servant.
Job as a type of Messiah was jeered by the mouths of men. So it will be when Messiah comes. He will be jeered by the mouths of men.
Job as a type of Messiah was struck on the cheek in scorn. So it will be when Messiah comes. He will be struck on the cheek in scorn.
Job as a type of Messiah faced crowds united against him. So it will be when Messiah comes. He will face crowds united against him.
Job as a type of Messiah was turned over to wicked men. So it will be when Messiah comes. He will also be turned over to wicked men.
Job as a type of Messiah was seized and crushed. So it will be when Messiah comes. He will seized and crushed.
Job as a type of Messiah was pierced in the side. So it will be when Messiah comes. He will be pierced many times including his side so that his gall is spilled on the ground.
So, this is just amazing imagery that that Job comes up with. And it just starts fleshing out this whole idea of Messiah as the suffering servant. An important event happened at the end of all the discourses. And these
went on for chapters and chapters and chapters. And finally at the very end, when they're done with their discourse, Elohim shows up and he starts talking to the crowd. And he's very angry at Job's friends. And this is what he says.
This is in Job 42:1-17:
Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [You asked,] ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. [“You said,] ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
So, this is the essence of Job's character. He is repenting in dust and ashes. And we referred to this earlier that this was an idea of repentance. This is where Job actually says, “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite,
Now, he is addressing the boys.
“I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take
seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them;
They went out they got their bulls and they went out and got their rams and they came back and they did with the Lord told them to.
and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.
Sacrifices, prayer Elohim forgave them.
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. (they had a big party) They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
Job's fortunes were turning already.
The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep (twice as much), six thousand camels (twice as many camels), a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys (twice, twice, twice). And he also had seven sons and three daughters (so his children were replaced). The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.
So, God's anger broke out against Zophar, Bildad and Eliphaz. He was not going to bless them. I think she was going to work against them and curse them. But instead, they were obedient to Elohim’s instructions. They brought their sacrifices and then Job prayed.
So, Job here is being a mediator or an intercessor for his friends. God heard his prayers and he then treated his friends with blessings rather than treating them according to their folly. So, here's another prophecy:
Job as a type of Messiah served as a mediator and intercessor for his friends averting God’s anger from them. So it will be with Messiah who will do the same and serve as a mediator for us averting God’s anger from us.
So, after Job prayed for his friends the Lord made him prosperous. He had twice, twice, twice. His children were replaced. We have no word about his wife whether this was the same wife or he got a new wife. I don't know. The scripture doesn't tell us. But it seems to me that he probably wouldn't bless the woman after she encouraged Job to curse God and die. But we don't know.
So, here's the summary, basically of this whole thing.
Job as a type of Messiah suffered to the point of despair and death but prevailed without sinning. He remained faithful and obeyed God’s instructions. He returned to the land of the living more powerful and influential than ever. So it will be for Messiah. He will return to the land of the living more powerful and influential than ever.
Now, that concludes the book of Job. And as you can see many, many, many prophecies. Our list is just increasing exponentially. Now, it's time for us to go back to Abram. We left him there basically starting in Ur of the Chaldees. And then he went with his family over to Haran. And we’re going to pick up the story there. Now, we are going to do the Age of the Patriarchs starting from Abraham, going all the way down to the children of Israel as they enter their bondage into Egypt. So, join me next time as we start the prophecies from the Age of the Patriarchs.
Thank you for watching our show today. We hope that you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Now, after watching this episode you might be saying to yourself, “Who is this Messiah that Dr. Smith is talking about?
Is he talking about the Christian Messiah? Is he talking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary. And then lived a blameless and holy life on the earth, And then was tortured and crucified. And after he died he then was resurrected from the dead after three days. Then after people witnessed this, he was then taken up bodily by Elohim into heaven from the Mount of Olives.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Muslim prophet Isa. Isa Ibn Maryam, the messenger, who was sent by Allah to bring a message to the people. The Quran says he that lived a holy and blameless life, was born of the virgin Mary. He fulfilled all the Jewish prophecies in exact accordance. But one difference, instead of being crucified, he then was taken up by Allah into heaven before the Romans laid hands on him. And he awaits there now in the fourth heaven where at the end of days at the day of judgment he will be revealed to all.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Jewish Messiah? The Messiah who has not yet been revealed, that the entire Jewish world is waiting for his revelation. Now, the beautiful thing is that you can hold to any of these beliefs. And we can all still learn together about Messiah. We can learn about our Christian Messiah. We can learn about our Jewish Messiah. We can learn about our Muslim prophet Isa who will be revealed. It doesn’t matter what you believe. You can even be an atheist or agnostic and still learn from this program about Messiah. Now, I have to admit I am a Christian so I approach things, obviously, from a Christian point of view. And I promise you, as we reveal these prophecies, which I believe have all been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Or will be fulfilled when he
comes back, returning in the clouds in the same way he was taken up. I believe that all of this is true, but I promise you I will do my very best to present these prophecies from a neutral point of view. And try to keep my Christian bias to a minimum. Obviously, it will pop up from time to time but I will try to stay only in the Tanakh and try not to get into the New Testament very often. Now, if you want more information about Messiah, we have resources for you.
We have a website which is findingmessiah.org. Now, on that website you are going to find several resources. You will find links to all the videos, all the episodes that we have created so far. You will find links to download the transcripts of any of these episodes. And then you will find a section where you can get more information about Messiah through frequently asked questions. And then there is a section for donation. If you want to come alongside our ministry at Finding Messiah.
Now, there’s going to come a time in this series where you are going to be confronted with the question: What are you going to do with Messiah? Who do you believe Messiah is? Which of these Messiahs do you believe Dr. Smith is talking about? And Messiah will become real to you if you look at all the information presented and come to your conclusions. So, join us as we continue our journey through the Old Testament Scriptures looking for all the Messianic Prophecies. And join us next time as we reveal those to you.